Religion Blog

At first, the Rev. Joseph White wasn’t sure why he said no — over and over again — to a talent
scout trying to recruit him into the rock ’n’ roll business.

A career as an entertainer had been his lifelong dream. But in the months after his mother died
in 1969, he had been named pastor of the Church of the Living God in Columbus, and his outlook had
changed.

“I thought, ‘I must be crazy. This is what I always wanted. Why did I tell that man no?’” White
said. “The spirit told me, ‘You told him no because you love the Lord.’

“That was the first time in my life when I had an experience like that, when I had to make a
major decision for Jesus.”

Forty-five years later, White is presiding prelate of the Columbus-based Church of the Living
God International, an apostolic-Pentecostal-style church that has expanded to more than 100 sites
in several nations.

“I feel like I’m leaving a legacy. I want to say I’m leaving something for the Lord,” White, 77,
said this week before heading to the Netherlands for a church revival.

The Columbus congregation that serves as the organization’s headquarters was started in 1923.
For more than 70 years, it was a member of the Church of the Living God, which was established in
Alabama in 1903.

When White took over, the church was on Fairwood Street on the Near East Side, and he renamed it
the Pool of Bethesda Church of the Living God in 1972. About five years later, it moved to its
current location at 2600 McCutcheon Rd. on the Northeast Side.

White and his church separated from the Church of the Living God in 1995. Elder Rosa Smith said
the split gave the local church the freedom to expand internationally.

Church of the Living God International congregations have been formed in the United States and
Europe and in such countries as Suriname, South Korea and South Africa. Some of the sites, White
said, were established by members of the U.S. military stationed overseas.

The church most recently expanded into Mexico, and White is learning Spanish.

He expects the growth to continue, but there is one thing he stays away from: “We don’t do
mega-churches,” he said. Congregations are not large; there are five sites in Columbus.

Church member Ronald Bryant, 62, said he thinks people get lost at mega-churches. White’s church
filled a gap in his life, he said. A strength of the church is its diversity, Bryant said, with
women as well as men serving as bishops, and people of all nationalities and colors as members.

Smith, 69, said finding the church nearly 40 years ago gave her a desire to serve God and a
better understanding of Scripture.

“My eyes came open when the word of God was preached, and he delivered it in a way that I had
never heard before. And it changed my life, it really changed my life, and it changed a lot of
other people’s lives,” she said.

White will celebrate his 45th year as pastor during a celebration next Friday through March 23.
Events will be at the church and at Crowne Plaza Columbus North.

He has no regrets about choosing to make a name for Jesus Christ rather than for himself.

Music still plays a big part in his spiritual life, and he has written several compositions that
will be performed by the church choir during the anniversary celebration. His favorite is titled
In Perfect Peace, a nod to a Bible passage in the Old Testament book of Isaiah.

“It came to me at a time I was going through some rough times, some hurdles and some obstacles,”
he said. “In trying to pull things together, it was a consolation for me.”

And White still might get to live part of his decades-old dream. Bryant said White will record
his music this year and hopes to distribute an album nationwide.